Honey Creek (Big South Fork)

[wsp_scott]

Back in the spring I offered to help plan a trip for @Janice in Big South Fork. I got so excited thinking about a loop down there that I decided I needed to revisit for at least one night, so...

I started up top at the East Rim Overlooking parking area since there had been recent flooding and I was worried that the Leatherwood Ford area would be shut. When I got down there, there were signs of high water but parking would have been no problem. Oh well, I had an extra couple miles of hiking, but they were good miles.

Mountain Laurels were blooming







I think this is Wild Geranium




Sweetshrub or Calycanthus, I've been told this is rare, I've only seen it in Big South Fork.


The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River


On the other JMT


Nice waterfall a couple miles into the hike




View from the O&W bridge


Jake's Falls


Pink Lady Slipper





Needles Eye or Hole in the Rock




Honey Creek Loop, the trail is a little wet in places


I got to the area I was planning on camping and found it already occupied. But they invited me to setup nearby and I ended up sharing their campfire and chatting for a couple hours.

Weird Rock in the river




I climbed up to see the Honey Creek Overlook. The last time I was here there was too much fog/rain to see anything.




Eastern Columbine


Iris


Honey Creek Falls


Different angle


Ice Castle Falls


Secluded Falls


View from an unofficial trail. I ended up chatting with a couple horse people here for a little bit.


And a couple hours later, I was back at my car. This was a great 30ish hour trip with just a few more people than I would normally prefer. Thanks for the inspiration @Janice

 

[Janice]

So glad you got to do this! I love mountain laurel and would have enjoyed seeing that. The other flowers, waterfalls, and scenery looked terrific. Maybe we'll get there next spring...

 

[scatman]

Beautiful pictures! I wonder what made that pattern on the rock?

 

[Janice]

My husband and I were trying to figure that out, too. Any chance the rock was concrete or something else human-made and the pattern is from a tire or something like that?

 

[wsp_scott]

Definitely not concrete, I think it was sandstone. My first thought was bike tire, but it was a pretty big rock so not likely to be washed very far down the river. And while there were people living in the area years ago, the terrain is not really bike (or any tire) friendly. So no idea. If the rock had been smaller, I'd have been tempted to carry it out

 

[Janice]

Fascinating - what a nice mystery to enjoy!

 

[Pringles]

Beautiful pictures. I especially liked the view of the river with the blooming laurel to the side.

 

[Georgia Yankee]

Definitely not concrete, I think it was sandstone. My first thought was bike tire, but it was a pretty big rock so not likely to be washed very far down the river. And while there were people living in the area years ago, the terrain is not really bike (or any tire) friendly. So no idea. If the rock had been smaller, I'd have been tempted to carry it out

That weird impression in the rock is a fossil of the tree-like plant Lepidodendron. It’s an impression of the bark. The plant grew to the size of a large tree but is more closely related to moss than modern trees. They lived during the Paleozoic era and were an important part of the flora that gave rise to the coal deposits at the end of the Paleozoic. That looks like a nice specimen.

 

[Janice]

That weird impression in the rock is a fossil of the tree-like plant Lepidodendron. It’s an impression of the bark. The plant grew to the size of a large tree but is more closely related to moss than modern trees. They lived during the Paleozoic era and were an important part of the flora that gave rise to the coal deposits at the end of the Paleozoic. That looks like a nice specimen.

We just spent time at dinner studying more about this and saw lots of other great lepidodendron fossil photos. Thanks for the learning opportunity!

 

[wsp_scott]

That weird impression in the rock is a fossil of the tree-like plant Lepidodendron. It’s an impression of the bark. The plant grew to the size of a large tree but is more closely related to moss than modern trees. They lived during the Paleozoic era and were an important part of the flora that gave rise to the coal deposits at the end of the Paleozoic. That looks like a nice specimen.

Thanks for that info, it looks like I've got some reading to do